Work For Your Happiness
by UltimateFandomMember3264
Summary: Kiyotaka suffers through his first week at Hope's Peak Academy. When he's asked a question on a stupid "freebie" homework and can't answer it, he starts to doubt whether he has much worth outside his job as the Ultimate Moral Compass. I mean, who actually cares about the hall monitor!


Kiyotaka had not expected to make friends at Hope's Peak and so far his expectations had been exactly correct. He had introduced himself to everyone, tried to be smiley and friendly but it came across as awkward and forced.

He was aware that he failed in social situations and it was a fact that pained him deeply but he comforted himself with the fact that now he had an opportunity to prove to all thosegeniusesthat he was worth something and he didn't need friends to do that.

All he had to do was focus, concentrate and apply himself in his studies and with enough effort he could right his grandfather's wrongs by becoming a great prime minister – That was the idea anyway.

However, Kiyotaka was sitting down at his desk feeling unbelievably down. He was staring down at a sheet of homework that he couldn't do. He had tried all night the first night that he got it (by Kiyotaka's standards working all night meant working until you passed out). He had tried to tackle it every night since, failing miserably each time.

That one sheet of homework had made his week miserable. Every attempt had left him sobbing in anguish in a puddle of self-pity. That led to him scolding his self severely, he didn't have time to wallow in negative thoughts.

This lead to him putting it off. He reasoned that it was the most logical thing to do because his reaction to the question sheet left him unable to work on his other homework.

He stared at the sheet. It was a sheet of questions about him.

Open receiving the homework from their homeroom teacher, members of his class had sighed with relief, calling it a "freebie" homework because they thought it was so easy to finish. Some people even did it right there on the spot and it took some of his classmates under a minuet.

After all, questions about you should be easy to answer, right? As Kiyotaka had found out, that assumption was very wrong.

He had whizzed through the questions at first.

Name:Kiyotaka Ishimaru.

Maybe they were right to call it a "freebie" homework.

Ultimate Talent:Ultimate Moral Compass.

Shouldn't the teacher know all of this already, it's on our student profile?

Favourite Subject:All of them!No, the teacher might need an actual answer…Politics.

Least Favourite Subject:Japanese.

I struggle to understand poetry and complex emotions in books…

How do you spend your free time?Study and kendo.

Every spare moment should be dedicated to study, I am a student of course but I do keep up my fitness level by practising kendo.

What makes you happy?…

Kiyotaka could think of a long list of things that make him unhappy (his classmates from middle school, swearing, loneliness, being unable to sleep at night, his grandfather, debt and geniuses to name a few). He could name things that he wants to do to ensure he is happy in the future. He wanted to make friends for example…

His father given him a speech so many times that it leaked into his head constantly, "Happiness is something that you have to put effort into in order to succeed. You are an Ishimaru, no one will respect you if you don't prove your worth. If you don't put in full effort, you will never be happy!"

But he did put in effort. He didn't sleep for nights on end to ensure that he had more time to study. He dedicated every moment of his life into pushing himself further, physically and mentally. He'd been bullied relentlessly for being so weird but it never stopped him from trying his absolute hardest.

But… It still wasn't enough. He wasn't happy yet, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt something else other than the fear of failure and sadness at his own shortcomings. He didn't know if he was even capable of feeling happy.

What was it they used to call him in middle school?

"The mono-tone robot" was the phrase that he remembered most clearly.

Maybe they were right, maybe he was only a robot who was incapable of feelings let alone feeling happiness. A robot whose only function was to work himself to the bone, every day of his miserable existence just so he could try to taste some relief.

There he was again, sobbing miserably because of one question on a homework sheet that everyone else thought was so easy.

Kiyotaka wanted to chalk it up to their genius nature but he knew, deep down, that the question was easy and anynormalperson would be able to answer it without having a meltdown.

At least there wasn't a question about what made him unhappy because, he knew from experience, that if his classmates saw his answer it would be used against him. He didn't know his fellow students very well but so far most of them seemed nice but he knew that they were probably only pretending to be nice to him so that they could betray his like some people had done in middle school.

Then a terrifying thought occurred to him, "I'm going to have to either ask the teacher for an extension on this homework orlie!"

He would be betraying his position as student council member and moral's committee representative if he lied shamelessly on a piece of homework.

The thought of having to ask the teacher for more time on the homework mortified him. He needed to set a good example. If he didn't hand in thefirstpiece of homework, how could he scold people who didn't hand in homework on time without being a hypocrite?

Tis new dilemma spurred on a new downpour of tears from Kiyotaka's already sore eyes. Not that it matters, his eyes were red so no one would notice any discoloration. No-one would care anyways, it was only an Ishimaru crying.

After some deep thought, Kiyotaka settled on the lesser of the two evils – He would have to humiliate himself and ask the teacher for an extension. His feelings didn't really matter. He'd rather humiliate himself than ruin his reputation as the Ultimate Moral Compass and lie on a homework question.

All he had was his academics and his morals.

One silly "Get to know the students" question sheet had completely and utterly defeated him. How embarrassing…

At least his resolve was set in stone.

Maybe he could discreetly talk to the home room teacher before class when there would be less of his peers around to laugh at him.

He got up from his desk and moved over to the wall which he had lots of timetables. The school secretary had allowed Kiyotaka to photo copy copies of every teacher's timetable (which lessons they taught to which classes and at which times so he could see when they were free).

Friday time table for his homeroom teacher… Oh no!

How could he have been so stupid? To leave speaking to the teacher to the last minute was a very stupid thing to do because all teachers had a staff meeting on Friday mornings from the morning announcement until homeroom.

He had no opportunity to talk to her before class because his teacher would be in the meeting and it was long past the evening curfew so he couldn't go find her now.

Kiyotaka would have to speak to her during homeroom in from of all of the geniuses that he was trying so hard to be better than.

It was his fault of course. It was due to his stupidity that he hadn't planned when he could talk to the teacher and it was his own fault that there was nothing that made him truly happy because who else's fault could it be?

That night Kiyotaka slept restlessly, his mind dwelling on suppressed memories and of what he knew would come the next morning.


End file.
